Federal regulators have found fresh evidence of an "ongoing oil release" at the site of a 13-year-old oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, where chronic sheens often stretch for miles off Louisiana's coast, according to government lawyers.

A company that has failed to stop a 13-year-old oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is asking for more time to negotiate a settlement that could allow it to recover millions of dollars it set aside for work to end the leak.

The Trump administration has settled lawsuits with tea party groups that received extra, often burdensome scrutiny when applying for tax-exempt status, ending another chapter in a political scandal that dogged the Obama administration and remains a source of outrage for Republicans.

Attorneys for the Trump administration said a federal judge has no authority to second-guess a presidential permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline as they seek to stop a lawsuit that would block the project.

In an order that undercuts protections for LGBT people, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a sweeping directive to agencies Friday to do as much as possible to accommodate those who say their religious freedoms are being violated.

Federal civil rights law does not protect transgender people from discrimination at work, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a memo released Thursday that rescinds guidance issued under the Obama administration.

A federal appeals court will not reconsider a plan that would distribute $300 million left over from a legal settlement involving the federal government to groups that help American Indians, even though the government's attorneys say the plan is "regrettable" and wouldn't have been approved under a Trump administration policy change.